Pershore Town 3, Malvern Town 1.

MALVERN Town showed a lot of promise in their pre-season friendly but came away with a defeat.

Malvern had all the ascendency for the first 20 minutes, but could not find the back of the net due to some last-gasp tackles and some good goalkeeping by Craig Humphries.

Early on, Malvern’s Tim Clarke put Ed Lyons into space and, holding off a defender, the latter fired the ball across the face of the goal but just off-target.

Imosports Midland Combination Premier Division side Pershore took a few minutes to mount an attack and, when it came, Steve Webb crossed from the right wing to Dane Aldington who, unmarked at the far post, had the easiest of jobs heading home.

Shortly afterwards, a Pershore striker burst through a static defence and, from five yards out, it was midfielder Mark Brookes who came to the rescue, toe-poking the ball out for a corner.

Phil Harris came away with the ball and his cross-field pass put Dave Reynolds into space.

Rounding a defender, Reynolds drove the ball across the face of goal for Rob Cullen to come sliding in, but he missed connecting with the ball and an empty net by inches.

With 28 minutes gone, Lyons picked out skipper Lee Hooper in the 18-yard box and, instead of helping the ball on its way, he brought it under control with his thigh.

As he turned to shoot, a defender closed him down and cleared the ball.

Another chance followed as Cullen picked out Olly Endacott with a super pass.

The striker brought the ball under control with his first touch and fired goalwards with his second but Humphries’ save prevented what looked a certain equaliser.

Clarke’s well-timed tackle on Jamie Insall prevented the striker from scoring at the other end of the pitch.

But two minutes later, another good delivery by Webb allowed Insall to head home his side’s second just before the interval.

From the restart, Les Jones’ Malvern went back on the attack, and Reynolds set up Endacott who, having steadied himself, was denied once again by Humphries.

Pershore’s passing allowed them to mount a series of attacks and, when goalkeeper Dean Drinkwater mis-handled the ball giving away a corner, Insall latched on to a half-clearance and drove the ball home for 3-0.

Pershore dominated for a period of play and, once again, it was Brookes who came to Town’s rescue as he tackled the ball away from a Pershore striker six yards out.

Paul Edwards held off a series of challenges and crossed into the box where defender Lewis Critcher almost turned the ball into his own net, with Hooper lurking just behind him with an open goal at his mercy.

Malvern introduced four youth players and John Pygott looked the pick of the bunch with some intelligent play as he made ground every time he was in possession.

Malvern were finally rewarded for their endeavour when Edwards latched on to a half-clearance.

From the edge of the box he drove the ball into the net, making it 3-1.

Just before the end of the match, Hooper was denied once more as Humphries dived at his feet to claim the ball and prevent a certain goal.